Key Compliance Deadlines
The staged timeline from 2024 to 2027.
The Act applies in stages. Missing a stage that already passed doesn't mean it's too late — it means you're catching up, and you should prioritise.
The timeline
- August 1, 2024 — the Act entered into force. The clock started.
- February 2, 2025 — prohibitions on banned AI practices (Art. 5) apply, and the AI literacy requirement (Art. 4) takes effect: staff dealing with AI must have sufficient AI literacy. Both are already in force.
- August 2, 2025 — governance rules and obligations for general-purpose AI (GPAI) model providers apply.
- August 2, 2026 — the big one. The Act becomes generally applicable: high-risk obligations for Annex III systems, transparency obligations (Art. 50), and penalty enforcement.
- August 2, 2027 — extended deadline for high-risk AI embedded in products regulated under Annex I, and for some pre-existing GPAI models.
What this means in practice
If you deploy or provide AI touching hiring, credit, education, or other Annex III areas, your documentation, oversight, and registration duties bite on August 2, 2026. Working backwards from that date: inventory and classification should be done now, documentation drafted well before the deadline, and monitoring live at enforcement.
The dashboard shows a live countdown and a deadline-aware compliance journey.